Feeder



(No Model.)

L. J. SWOBODA.

FEEDER.

No. 451,532. Patented May 5,1891.

UNITED STATns PATENT Uherce,

LUDVIG J. SWOBODA, OF BJIINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

FEEDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 451,532, dated May 5,1891.

Application filed August 30, 1890. erial No. 363,545. (No model.)

T0 all whom, it may conccrn:

Be it known that I, LUDWIG J. SwoBoDA, of Minneapolis, in the county ofHennepin and State of Minnesota, have in vented certain Improvements inFeeders, of which the followmg is a specification.

My invention relates to automatic feeders of the class in which aconstantly-rotated feedroller or a constantly-vibrated feed-board isused in the Outlet-opening of the feed-hopper, the oflice of the samebeing` to 'carry the material steadily from the hopper and to spread thesame into a thin stream as it leaves the hopper and falls between therolls 01' upon the sieves of the machine in connection with which theautomat-ie feeder is employed. The stock or material is fed into thefeed-hopper above the feed roll or board from a suitable spout connectedin turn with the elevator or other conveyer, which conveyer is in itsturn connected with other parts of the milling machinery. It has beenfound that the feed through the spont into the feed-hopper will vary sothat at times the roll or board operating ata constant speed and inconnection with an opening of a given size will fail to carry off thematerial as fast as it is fed into the hopper, the result being that thefeed hopper and spout Will be' choked with material and the elevator orconveycr stopped by the overplus material, thus causing an annoying anddamaging delay, and sometimes necessitatin g the shuttingdown of themill. At other times very little material Will come through the spoutinto the hopper, and there will not be enough material to spread acrossthe outletopening, the conscquence being that only portions of thefeed-roll will be covered with material, and the material will be fedinto the rolls' or other part of the machine in uneven qnantities 01'lumps, thus damaging and cut-- ting down the efliciency of the machineto which the feeder is attached and producing a poor and uneven qualityof lour or other finished stock. In order to avoid these detrimentalresults, various forms of feed-controlling gates have been designed, thesanre being adjusted either by hand or automatically to increase ordecrease the size of the Outlet-opening above the feed roll or board asthe quantity of material contained in the feed-hopper varies from thenormal. Much difficulty has been experienced in so constructing thesegates and their regulating apparatus as to insure their reliability, forif the action of the feed-gate bc slow orinaecurate the samedifficulties will be encountered as in the use of the feeder without thefeed-controlling gate.

In one class of automatic feeders the raising and lowering of thefeed-gate has been accomplished through the medium of a suitable bridgeor pressure-board provided within the feed-hopper and connected with thelfeedgate by suitable lin k-and-spring connections. These springconnections tend to constantly hold the spring-gate at the normal heightabove the roller and are under constant tension. As the pressure of thematerial upon the bridge-'board increases the board will be forced downa short distance, the tension of the Springs overcome, and the feed-gateraised to allow a thiclrer stream of material to pass out over thefeed'roll, thus emptying` the hopper fast enough to prevent choking. Incase only a small weight of material is allowed to fall into the hopperand upon the pressure or bridge board, the latter will be raised by thetension of the Springs and the feed-gate lowered to approach or closeupon the feed-roll or vibrating board, thereby lessening the size of theOutlet-opening and always confining enough of the material within thehopper to cover the bottom thereof and spread clear across thefeed-roll, th us insu ring an even feed.

Inv practice it has been found that these feeders, the operation ofwhich is dependent upon coiled or othersprings, soon become un-'reliable, slow of action, and easily deranged on account of changes inthe strength of the various springs and friction of parts. In order toovcrcome the va-rious objections to feeders heretofore constructed, Ihave designed an automatic feeder in which reliance upon Springs underConstant tension is dispensed with and balance and construction of partsdepended upon for the operation of the feed-gate.

My invention consists in the combination, with the feed-hopper providedwith the usual Outlet-opening and feed-roll or feed-board, of a straightfeed-gate adapted to close said ICO' opening, long pi\'ot-arms on saidfeed-gato projecting out therefrom and pivoted, preferably, at pointslying in a plane at right angles to the inner face of the feed-gate, aslotted bracket or braekets extending back from the top of thefeed-gate, a pressure board or bridge provided within the said hopper,said board hinged along its upper edge to the side of the hopper havingthe Outlet-opening, an arm provided on said bridge-board and extendingfrom the upper edge thereof through the side of the hopper andoverhanging said slotted bracket, and a longitudinally-adjustablepivotal link extending between said slotted bracket and said armprovided on the bridge-board, and a fiexible cloth extending on threesides of said bridge-board and closing in the space lying beneath thesame between the bridge-board and the side of the hopper; and, further,my invention consists in a feeder having an auxiliary spring or springsin connection with the feed-gate, the tension of said spring or Springsbeing readily adjustable, and the purpose of thesame being to prcventthe vibration of the feedgate, which would otherwise be caused by thevibration of the machine to which the automatic feeder is attached.

My invention consists, further, in various details of construction,hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the elaims.

My invention will be more readily understood by reference to theaccon'lpanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a transverse section of afeedhopper provided with an automatic feeder embodying my invention, thesection being taken upon line wa; of l1`ig. 2. Fig. 2 is a partial frontelevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a detail plan view of the slottedhorizontal braeket used upon the feed-gate. Fig. et is a sectionalelevation thereof upon the line y .7/ of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a partialside elevation of my automatic feeder as used without the auxiliaryspring. Fig. 0 is a detail plan view of the slotted bracket adapted toconfine the upper end of the auxiliary-spring rod. Fig. 7 is a sectionthereof upon thelin z' of Fig. 5. Fig. S is an elevation showing thebridgeboard and the def'lector-plate or divider thereon, as seen fromthe line zl' 'w of Fig. 1.

As shown in the drawings, the feed-hopper 2, having the slanting sides 3and l, is provided with the wide opening 5 between the lower edge of theside -1 and the feed-roll 6. This feed-roll is rotated at a Constanthigh speed in the direction of the arrow and serves to carry thematerial out of the bottom of the feed-hopper and drop it upon the rollsor the sieve of the machine. The fced-gate 7 serves to normally closethe wide opening 5, and when the feeder is not in use rests upon thefeed-roll 6. This long feed-gate 7 is preferably made of wood, and isstrengthened by the metal strip S upon its lower edge, which both makesthe gate more durable and gives it the requisite weight. Connected withthis gate is my automatic feed apparatus, which iu its actionmaybelikened toapairof scales, the parts thereof being adjustablybalanced one with the other, so that the gate is raised to a'certaindistance when a certain weight of material has been placed in thehopper.

For general use in connection with machines having vibratory parts andmotions I make use of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, while the formembodied in Fig. 5 is generally used with machines which run quietly andsmoothly without vibration` the auxiliary spring being dispensed with asunnecessary for use in connection with such machines.

The feed-gate 7 is provided at each end with arms 9, suitably pivoted attheir lower ends, as shown, to stationary bearings sccured upon thesides Of the machine or the feeder-box. The relation of the feed-gates7, the arms i), and the pivot-points thereof is such that thepivot-points lie in a plaue projected at an angle of ninety degrees withthe inner face of the feed-gate. By this construction I bring thepivot-points below the edge of the feed-gate and do away with thenecessity of eurving the inner surface of the feed-gate 7, and stillmake the connection between the gate and the side .JC close enough toprevent spilling out of the material. lVithin the feedhopper I providethe hinged or pivoted pressure or bridge board 10, hinged along itsupper edge 11. This board is prevented from rising too high in thehopper by suitable fiexible retaining sides 12, preferably made of clothand adapted to fold beneath the board when the same is foreed down bythe pressure of the grain above it. This cloth extends on three sides ofthe bridge-board, closing the space beneath the same and preventing thematerial from passing under the board to hinder its downward movement. Asuitable divider or defiecting-plate 13, having the form shown, ispreferably provided upon the upper surface of this bridge-board andextends clear across the same, so that the material which falls from acentral point above the feed-hopper will be spread clear across thebottom of the hopper. The movement of the bridge-board 10 as it risesand falls according to the pressure of material upon it is commnnicatedto the feed-;rate to raise or lower the same by the adjustablepivotallink 14, the arm 15, secured to the board 10 and Operatingthrough the slot 1G in the side 4, and the horizontal slotted bracket-17, extending from the top of the feed-gate 7. The link 11 is providedwith suitable eyes 18, of the form shown in Figs. 3 and et. The lowerend or eye of the link engages with the notched lug 19, extending fromthe looking-block 20, adjustably fixed upon the slotted bracket 17 bythe bolt and nut 21 passing through the slot 22 in said hracket 17. Theupper eye of the link 11 is pivoted at 23, and is made adjustable uponthe arm 15 by the movable sleeve or block 524, adapted to be locked uponsaid arm by the set-screw 95. The link 14. is easily IIO adjusted bymeans of the threaded link 2G engaging the right and left hand screwsupon the adjacent ends of the link 145. In order to prevent the raisingof the feed-gate to too great a height', l provide the stop 27, adaptedto be raised or lowered by simply turning the bolt 28. This bolt 28 issecured in the bracket 29 upon the side 4 by the short pin 30, providedin the bolt 28 to prevent its being pushed up through the bracket whenthe stop 27 is struck.

Thus far I have described the simple form embodied-in Fig. 5, which isall that is necessary for quiet machines, such as roller-mills. In case,however, that the feeder is to be used upon a purifier or other machinehaving vibrating parts, I preferably employ the rod 31, provided withthe sharp point at its lower end adapted to rest in a suitable socketprovided in the head of the movable bolt 32, secured in the slot 33 ofthe bracket 17. The upper end of this rod 31 is free to move up or downthrough a suitable opening 34, provided in the adjustable' block 35.This block 35 is adapted to be held always at right angles to theslotted bracket 36, but may be moved in or out toward the end of theslot therein by simply loosening the bolt 37. The spiral spring 38 isprovided upon the rod 31 and is adapted to be adj usted by means of thethumb-screw 30, provided upon the threaded port-ion of the same, asshown. The tension of this spring, though very slight, is just enough toprevent the Vertical vibration of the feed-gate 7, which would otherwiseresult from the general vibration of the machine and cause an unsteadyfeed. The tension of the spring 32 is so slight that the increasetherein when the feed-gate is raised a short distance practicallyamounts to nothing, and therefore does not affect the operation of thefeed-gate as controlled by the fiuctuations of the bridgeboard 10.

The operation of my feeder is very simple and has proved to bethoroughly automatic and reliable. The normal position of the .feed-gatemay be determined with any weight of material which it is desired tofeed by a short trial of the same and by moving the pivot-points of thelink 14 in or out upon the arm 15 and the bracket 17; and,further, theposition of the feed-gate may be adj usted lvery delicately after thepositions of the ends of the links have been determined by simplyturning the threaded link 26 to lengthen or shorten the link, therebyraisingcor lowering the gate, as desired. It'will be seen that theleverages may be varied to almost any degree by the shifting of thelocking-blocks at the pivot-points. Thus, for instance, if the upperpivot should be throWn out to the end of the arm 15 it would take a muchgreater weight of material upon the board 10 to raise the feedgate byturnin g the same upon itspivots. The same is true when the lower end ofthe link 14 is moved out nearer the end of the bracket 17. If the endsof the link 14 were moved in to- Ward the side ll, the opposite would betrue. f hen a heavier or a lighter class of material than that thehopper previously ran through is fed into the same and a change is madein the positions of the pivot-points, the feedgate may be kept at thesame distance above the feed-roll by lengthening or shortening the link,as described. A change in the tension of the spring 38 is made by movingthe blocks 32 and 35 in or out upon their supports, and is 'finally andaccurately adjusted by means of the thumb-nut 39 on the rod 81. lt willbe seen that the bridge-board pivoted at its upper edge and connectedwith the feedgate pivoted upon the long arms 9 form a -sensitive and comparatively delicate mechanlsm, though having all the strength andwearing qualities necessaryin such a device. Avery small quantity ofmaterial falling upon the divider 13 will be spread evenly into thebottom of the hopper and clear across the opening 5, and, striking uponthe outer edge or part of the bridge-board 10, has a long leverage, andwill consequently press the same down in proportion to its weight, thusraising the feed-gate suficiently to allow Just the right amount ofmaterial to pass out under the same. If, on the other hand, alargequantity of material is fed suddenly into thelhopper and upon thebridge-board, the brldgeboard will be quickly thrown down and thefeed-gatc immediately raised against the stop or limit 27, thus allowinga heavy but always even stream of material to pass over the roller 6. Asthe pressure of the material upon the feed-board decreases the feed-gatewill be gradually lowered, thus always retaining enough material in thehopper to spread clear across the discharge-opening. This will betrueeven when the supply of material is cut off and the hopper allowed toempty itself. As the last part of the material passes out over the. rollthe fced-gate will settle down so near the roller and so evenly parallelwith the same that though the stream be very light it will still beeven.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent-- 1. The combination, with the feed-hopper having theOutlet-opening, of a straight feedgate, pivot-arms provided inconnection Wlth said feed-gate, pivots therefor, a bracket on saidfeed-gat-e extending outwardly therefrom, a bridge or pressure boardprovided within said hopper and pivoted along its upper edge to the sideof the hopper having the said Outlet-opening, a fiexible cloth arrangedaround the sides and free edge of said bridgeboard and closing in thespace between the under side of the bridge-board and the said sides ofthe hopper, an arm provided in conneotion With said bridge-boardeXtending therefrom through the side of the hopper, and alongitudinally-adjustable and pivotal link extending between saidbracket and said arm, the ends of the link being movably secured theretoand adapted to be moved in or out thereon, substantially as described.

:3. The combination, in afeeder, of the feedgate with the pressure boardor bridge pivoted at its upper edge and adapted to yield downwardly topressure exerted upon its top, a fiexible cloth adapted to close theimmediate space beneath said board or bridge, pivotarms extendiug fromsaid feed-gate at right angles thereto and secured at theirouter endsupon suitable pivots, a slotted braoket provided on said feed-gateextending from the upper edge thereof, an arm provided on saidbridge-board extending from the upper edge thereof, said bracket andsaid arm normally lying in substantially horizontal planes, and anadjustable link extending between and `pivotally secured to said arm andbracket,

the euds of said'link being movable in orout thereon, substantially asand for the purpose specified.

3. The combination, with the feed-hopper provided with the opening 5, ofthe feed-gate 7, adapted to normallyclose said opening, the pivoted armspivoted in a plane at right angles to the inner face of said feed-gate,the braeket 17, provided with the slot adapted to eugage the bolt ofvthe looking-block 21, the feed-board 10, provided with the divider 13and pivoted at its upperedge, the arm 15, projecting therefrom through asuitable slot in the side a of the hopper, the link 14, pivotallyconnecting said arm and said braeket, said link 14: being provided withthe th readed link 2G, adapted to engage the right and left threads uponthe adjacent ends of the link lt, and the stop 27, adjustably securedupon the side 4 of the hopper.

i. The combination, in an automatic feeder, of the feed-hopper providedwith the opening 5 with the feed-gate adapted to swing upon the pivotedarms t), the bracket 17 upon said feed-gate, the bridge-board providedwithin said hopper and hinged at its upper edge, the armextendiugoutward` from said upperedge of said bridge-board, thelongitudinally-adjustable pivotal link adapted to connect said arm andsaid bracket and the upper and lower ends thereof adapted to be moved inorout and to be fixed in position upon the said arm and bracket, and thead j ustable stop secured upon the side of the hopper and adapted tolimit the upward movement of said feed-gate, suhstantiall y asdescribed.

5. The combination, in an automatic feeder, of the feed-hopper havingthe Outlet-opening 5 With the feed-gate 7, the arms 9, provided ou thefeed-gate '7, the stationary pivots upon which said arms and gate areadapted to swing, the slotted bracket 17, the adjustahle stop 27,secured upon the side of the hopper and adapted to limit the upwardmovement of said feed-gate, the bridge-board 10, provided with thedivider 13 and hinged at its upper edge upon the side of the hopper, thearm 15, projectiug through the slot 1(3 in the side 4, the adjustablelink 11,pivoted upon the blocks 20 and Qt, movably secured to the saidbracket and the said arm, respectively, the rod 31, adapted to rest atits lower'end in a suitable bearing :22, adjustably secured in a slot 33of the bracket 17, the upper block 35,1novably secured in the bracket3G, extending from the side 4 of the hopper, said block adapted to holdsaid rod against lateral movement, the spring 38 upon said rod 31, andthe threaded thumb-nnt 39, engaging therewith, substantially asdescribed.

G. The combination, with the hopper provided with a suitableOutlet-opening 5, of the feed-gate '7, adapted to close the same, thebracket 17, extending from and secured to said feed-gate, the bracket3G, secured upon the side of the hopper above said feed-gate, the rod31, the lower bearing 39 for said rod, and the upper retaining-block 35of said rod, movably secured upon said upperbraeketb', the ooiled spring38 upon said rod, the threaded portion of said rod, and the thumb-nut 89upon the same, by means of which the tension of said spring is increasedor deereased, Whereby Vertical vibration of said feed-gate is prevented,substantially as deseribed.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

Ll'DlVIG J. SlVOlODA.

